The enduring domestification of women is universal, withstanding even the outsourcing of “women’s work,” feminism and identity politics. There is a long history of the use of phrases, homilies and platitudes in domestic and scholastic embroidery that was presumably intended to educate and improve the minds of the poor women and girls who had to sew them.

These embroideries are my riposte to that domesticity and useless education. They record pearls of wisdom received - often unasked and sometimes unwelcome - from friends, family members, taxi drivers, therapists and even street graffiti. The difference is, I get to choose what to embroider and if I want to do it at all. So educational reform, feminism and identity politics were not entirely in vain, and for that I am thankful.